Wino Posted April 18, 2010 Report Share Posted April 18, 2010 BANGKOK, April 17 (TNA) - As celebrants of the Songkran festival, Thailand’s traditional New Year, begin returning to Bangkok from upcountry to start work, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department announced that 2,863 road accidents occurred in the first five days of the ‘seven dangerous days’ of the festival, killing 257 persons and injuring 3,104 others nationwide. During the first five days ending Friday, the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima recorded the highest number of fatalities at 17 dead, followed by the northernmost province of Chiang Rai and the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani with 11 each. Drunken driving was attributed as the main cause of accidents overall, with nearly 32 per cent, followed by 26 per cent of motorcyclists not wearing helmets and driving too fast accounting for 18 per cent. Some 75.5 per cent of all road accidents involved motorcycles, over 10 per cent pickups and 6 per cent passenger sedans. Director-General Anucha Mokaves said officials posted at road checkpoints have been instructed to be alert, especially at night, to prevent accidents resulting from drunken driving. Motorists are also warned by the weather department that roads would become slippery on the Saturday and Sunday weekend due to unusual scattered showers and strong winds. Revellers of Songkran festival which officially ended Thursday are now starting to return to the capital from upcountry to start work next Monday. State enterprise Transport Co, Ltd has increased the number of its buses to 6,000 from 3,500 to cater the demand by passengers, especially those travelling from northeast and north to Bangkok. It is expected that about 200,000 people would return to the capital on Saturday. (TNA) 257 Songkran travellers killed, 3,104 injured in first five days of road accidents | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya news Powerful news at your fingertips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Chang Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 To make these numbers more meaningful it'd be useful to know what the typical death/accident toll is during normal times. Anyone know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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